Florida Epilogue Shaping Up In Swindler's Autobiography

In 1972 Wall Street stockbroker Michael Hellerman agreed to plead guilty to stock fraud charges, testify against his Mafia associates and never become involved in crime again.

He entered the federal witness protection program after being targeted in a murder contract, took on a new identity and relocated to New England and later Miami.

But Hellerman, whose name was later changed to Rapp, never lived up to his deal, prosecutors say. In fact, some investigators say he went back to work for the Mob.

On Thursday, Rapp was indicted by a federal grand jury in Orlando and charged with masterminding a bank takeover attempt and subsequent loan deal that bilked $7.2 million from Florida Center Bank in Orlando last October. The bank collapsed in April and was taken over by another institution.

Seven other men also were charged in the case, including the bank's former chairman, John Bodziak Jr. of St. Petersburg, and board member Robert Duncan of Altamonte Springs.

For Rapp, a con man who wrote an autobiography in 1977 called Wall Street Swindler: An Insider's Story of Mob Operations in the Stock Market, the indictment is the latest in a series of civil and criminal charges he has faced in connections with bank swindles across the country.

Investigators and acquaintances of Rapp said his fast-talking, fast- dealing and high-living lifestyle once again is starting to catch up with him. ''The government is not going to take issue with the title of Mr. Rapp's book,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Calvacca. ''But it would appear that the final chapter has yet to be written.''

Rapp, who is free on bail, could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Joel Rosenthal of Miami, said Rapp will plead not guilty to the charges and that he did not know if Rapp is working for the Mafia.

Rapp is accused of using associates as fronts to buy Florida Center Bank stock, obtain two seats on the board of directors, and have them approve loans to a company he secretly controlled.

He told one partner that he ''could not be openly associated with either the loan or stock sale transaction because of his poor reputation in the banking industry,'' the indictment said.

Judging from court records and ongoing investigations of him, Rapp's reputation with banks is more like infamous.

''His reputation is somewhere akin to Gadhafy's reputation in the United States,'' said Terry Straub, Florida's assistant director of banking. ''He is really no friend of banking. The guy is just bad news.''

Rapp, 48, of Bay Harbor Island near Miami, is under investigation in New York, Denver, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. The federal investigations involves bank swindles totaling more than $12 million, according to bank officials, investigators, prosecutors and civil racketeering suits filed in those cases.

He is facing a criminal contempt charge in federal court in Brooklyn over violation of a judge's order limiting his spending to $7,000 a month. That charge arose out of a civil suit filed against him by a Flushing, N.Y., bank, accusing him and several associates of ''corrupting'' the bank's president and bilking the institution out of $8.5 million.

A federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale indicted him last month on charges of masterminding a check-kiting scheme that defrauded the Flagship National Bank of Miami $1 million in 1984.

Rosenthal said Rapp, who also pleaded not guilty to those charges, is an investor and business broker who arranges financing with banks.

''Anyone in the bank deals was aware he was in the witness protection program and that he wrote a book,'' Rosenthal said. ''That's the first thing he tells them.''

Rosenthal said minutes of Florida Center Bank board meetings will show that members who approved loans to his company were told of his past.

To the amazement of police intelligence officers in South Florida, Rapp has dealt openly with Mafia figures there in recent years. They said they believe that his murder contract was forgiven in exchange for Rapp returning to work for the Mafia.

State beverage department records and other investigators show that Rapp managed a restaurant called Apple's in Hallandale in 1982 and 1983. Investigators said the liquor license was denied because Rapp was a convicted felon and because profits were going to Philip ''Brother'' Moscato, who has been identified by police and congressional testimony as a member of Genovese Mafia family.

Rosenthal said Rapp bought the restaurant from Moscato, but did not work for Moscato. Rapp's indictment last month involves financial dealings at the Apple's, which state beverage agents say showed Rapp acting as a front man for Moscato.

Former beverage agent Frank Oliva, now a Florida Department of Law Enforcement officer, said Rapp told him during a licensing investigation that he had no interest in the restaurant. He said Rapp later told him he borrowed money from Moscato.